Troubled Dream
by Imotochan13
Summary: It seems Jack wasn't the only one who didn't remember his past. This Guardian just had trouble bringing it up, or even saying it for that matter. With the task to find his lost memory, and a newer struggle with his growing feelings toward a certain Winter Spirit, what's a Dream Giver to do? M just in case, due to dark tones and later stuffs. :3 pairing Frozen Sand
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: I don't know how I came to ship this, but I did, and I don't regret it!**

Disclaimer: Although I wish I did, I do not own Rise of the Guardians. *sigh*

**I do hope you enjoy this, I did my best to go over it and make sure it's all correct, but, my computer has this thing with trying to change wasn't to aswn't so... Yeah, if you find any of those, I'm sorry. *sweat drop* ~ Imoto out!**

Until that day at the Tooth Palace I thought I was alone, surrounded by spirits who knew their past, who they were, what their families were like, why they were a Guardian even. I thought they all knew at least, but I was wrong and found that out when it had become to late. The winter spirit didn't even know he used to be human, at least, not until Tooth mentioned that the teeth that her fairies collect save the memories of childhood. She had his before they were stolen, but of course, during the time that I wasn't... _Present_... During the fight with Pitch, they were retrieved, leaving me alone with my lost memories once more.

More than once I had hinted at my teeth being at the Palace to Tooth, at first she either ignored me playing it off as she hadn't noticed me trying to get ahold of her, or she'd change the topic, but finally she gave in only to give me the crushing news that she had become a spirit after me, so alas, she had not collected my teeth... Now I had no memories, and no idea how to get them back. All I remembered was when I awoke as a spirit, and that wasn't much to go on.

_I remember the black sky was periodically lit up by a flash of lightning, which would be followed by a loud crash of thunder at some point in time after. It seemed to me that where I had awoken was an open field, yet the light that was constantly around me sorta blocked out most of what was around me from my sight, leaving me to only wonder. _(_It took quite a long time just sitting there to realize the light was being produced by me._)_ I think it had been raining, but I wasn't exactly sure, not everything was clear in my mind, but the most prominent thing I do know of is I was, and still am, extremely tired._

I wanted to remember, to know why I became who I am now. Normally I could push the thought from my mind, but sometimes, like tonight, it just crept out, sending me into a fit of gloom.

This is probably how Jack had felt too, it'd be nice if the winter spirit could understand me without it taking forever, or, that I could actually talk to him. He was always fun to be around, especially when he was in a really good mood, he could have me in stitches from laughing, (silently of course...) and I loved it... Right now I could use his company, I mean really... A Dream Giver shouldn't be gloomy.

Shaking my head to throw these depressing thoughts out of my mind as best I could a silent sigh escaped past my lips, I was a Guardian, I can't keep letting myself get plagued by this, I had to try and stay cheerful for the sake of the children, and Jack was just the spirit to help me.

"Sandy!" Speak of the Devil. Snowflakes rushed by in a flurry, riding on the chilling breeze that brought the younger spirit to my cloud of dream sand, where I sat somberly. All I could think to do was form a question mark with a small handful of glowing, golden sand, but the boy just smirked, his blue eyes sparkling like ice in the sun (something I _loved _to see) as he placed a foot on my cloud gingerly.

Normally the cloud could only hold me, and well, I could use it against Pitch and his nightmares because of how close we were in powers, but the others were just put asleep by it once they tried to step on it and fell through. Though now, I watched rather fascinated when clumps of sand were dragged into a thin layer of ice as his skin touched the sand, allowing him to stand, only for the grains to be freed and others to be captured when he took each step.

"Just wanted to stop by, something just seemed wrong." Smiling softly I shook my head, a few grains of sand falling from my head to the mass below me, he leaned on his staff, raising an eyebrow in a silent questioning of my answer. "Really? Cause, you've just been sitting up here for an hour or so, don't you have work to do?" Shaking my head again, I shifted my eyes away from the boy and his stare that just seemed to _know _that I was lying. How he so easily saw through me I'd never know...

Even if I tried to say it he wouldn't understand... No one understands what I try to say. Turning my gaze back quickly when he moved, I couldn't believe it when he sat down and shot me an encouraging smile... As if my lost memory wasn't enough of a problem, now this winter spirit was creating a whole new one without even knowing it...

"Sandy come on, we're friends aren't we?" I nodded quickly, of course Jack was my friend! He was a great friend! He knows how difficult it is to understand me... "Then at least _try_ here, you're not on to sit around when you're happy."

Jack was a great friend, but sometimes, a pain in the ass. I sighed and gave in, nodding slightly, then thought over what to do to make this easy enough.

Making an arrow with sand, I pointed it at him, he laughed a bit. Hopefully that was simple enough for his mind. I smirked a bit at my own joke.

"Me?" Nodding, I paused for a second, then made a lightbulb above my head, it hovered there dimly glowing for a moment, then brightened suddenly. "Thought of?" Shaking my head I went back to the drawing bored, he chewed on his lip, thinking, tapping my head, I quickly changed the lightbulb into the shape of one of the tooth holding containers and he seemed to get it this time. "Oh! My memory? Is that what you're talking about?" Now I nodded and he just stared at the picture above my head, having no clue where this was going at all. "What about it?" The sand shifted to make a circle around the container, then formed a line through it a small arrow pointing down at me. After a second his eyes got wide, his expression showing that it clicked.

"You don't have any memory of your past?" Sighing, I nodding just enough for Jack to see before dropping my head to my chest sadly, my eyes staying trained on the cloud of sand below me, jumping startled as something cold wrapped around me, I realized Jack was hugging me. "I had no idea Sandy... I'm guessing... Tooth is younger than you too...?" Nodding against his chest, my eyes barely caught the growing light on my face, followed shortly by heat flooding my cheeks... Was I... Blushing?! "Whoa little man, you just got a lot warmer, you okay?"

Why does light have to give off heat?!  
Nodding quickly, Jack unwrapped his arms from around me, but left his hands on my shoulder as he leaned back to study my face, his lips turned up into a crooked smirk, making the heat in my cheeks to grow almost to a burn, my heart fluttering in my chest. "You sure?" I gave him the best smile I could muster at that point and nodded, making his smirk stretch into a grin. "Good, and you know what? I'm going to talk to the others, and we're going to find _some _way to get your memories back!"

How I ever ended up with such an amazing friend, I would never know...

_So why do I have to try and ruin it with how I feel...?_


	2. Chapter 2

The winter spirit stayed with me for quite a while, just sitting next to me on my little cloud, it was just silent between us for a spell, but he broke it with anything he could say to try and get me to smile, it wasn't to long before I had figured out what he was doing, and just to mess with him I refused to smile. He seemed to believe me for the longest time, but finally he realized what I was up to and started laughing, pushing me slightly.

Though like all good things, our time together came to an abrupt end when Jamie called him down to ask for a snow day so he could had an extension on a school project. I guess it didn't really matter though, I had my own work that needed to be done, I couldn't spend my day dwelling on a human emotion such as depression when the children needed dreams.

My normal route around the world left me over Europe within an hour, and purely by chance Tooth was out and about tonight, only to notice me, but in times like this, I didn't really want the talkative Guardian around me, yet didn't have the heart to make her leave me alone. Her company wasn't _too _much of an annoyance as I thought it would be, though her constant chatter sometimes brought me out of my thoughts.

"Sandy," She said after while of non-stop talking, now that her little fairies were collecting the teeth of the children, she decided to fly with me on my own route. "are you okay? You're not as happy as you normally are." Sighing, I mentally cursed myself and how easy I was for others to read, there were just some days (more like everyday) I really didn't want to talk about my troubles, I didn't want to bother the others... So I decided to nod and give her the best smile I could, just like Jack though, she knew, what was it that was giving me away?

"Come on, don't you trust me? I can tell this isn't just about your memory, it's in your eyes... I can keep a secret, what's on your mind?" The cloud of dream sand carrying me stopped moving suddenly, which took Tooth off guard, then when her voice spoke gently, I could hear the worry in it, but that really didn't make me feel any better. "Come on... I don't like seeing you like this." Enough was enough... Turning to Tooth, I was stunned by the stinging in my eyes, then when I could _see _tears forming I knew I had a real problem, her shoulders dropped as her eyes found mine again, she noticed the tears instantly.

Ignoring it, I shook my head and pointed back the way we had come from, I liked Tooth, she was another great friend, but right now, I just wanted to be alone. For a moment we just stared at each other, then she nodded and turned around to head back. "I'm sorry... Come talk to me when you want to... I'll always make time to help you..." Watching her go, I moved on my way, feeling as though there was a dark cloud on my head I did my best to push on, there were still children out there who needed dreams, and now that it was just me, I got so lost in my thoughts, my body put itself on auto-pilot, going the route and commanding the sand from the cloud and back without any need of me to do it and break my sulking.

I don't know if it was because I wasn't keeping track, or what, but it seemed that I was back over Burgess before I knew it, and it wasn't even dark here yet, so now what am I supposed to do?

"Hey there!" Startled at the sudden voice yanking me from my mind, my head snapped up to find the source, only for a smile to find its way onto my lips as a certain white haired spirit was hovering there with a smile. "You're coming with me!" Before I even had to chance to _think _about forming a question mark, the frozen wind carrying Jack flew past me, the boy grabbed my hand in the process and dragged me off my cloud after him down closer to the town.

I found myself actually kinda worried up until I noticed him flying straight for the frozen over pond off on the edge of all the houses and businesses. Without slowing, he only shifted to land on his feet, and even then we didn't stop moving, the only difference was he pulled my feet down to the ice, and tossed his staff off to the side to free both of his hands, while still pulling me along as he skated across the surface of the frozen pond with ease. While I on the other hand, struggled to stay up. (I flew around for a reason you know!)

The second that Jack let go of my hand, I stumbled about then reached forward quickly, clutching onto his hoodie tightly, I pulled myself closer to him trying my best not to fall. Jack's skating (and pulling me after him of course) slowed just slightly as his hand settled on my back. "Hey now, come on Sandy, I won't let you fall." Hearing the smile in his voice, I shifted my eyes up and gave him a shy smile, but when he chuckled, my gaze darted away again, only for heat to rush to my cheeks, and a brighter light to erupt from them. "Woah, wait a second..." He chuckled once more as he came to an instant stopped and knelt down in front of me, his hands lightly holding my arms as his eyes studied my face with a smirk. "Are you... Are you _blushing_?" Violently shaking my head, I held my eyes shut tightly, embarrassed and terrified that he could just _see_ what he was doing to me right now.

He didn't say anything if he knew, instead, he took both of my hands into his own colder ones and pried my death grip from his hoodie, only to keep a hold of them as he started skating along again, slowly this time though. "Here, I'll help you."

Staring down at our feet, I did my best to match his movements, though, being a lot shorter made it difficult to follow exactly but I really was trying my best, and when I glanced up, Jack was grinning, his eyes shining again. "See! You can do it!" Looking up completely to smile, my heart skipped as his grin changed into a crooked smirk, and my lack of concentration (due to a fluttering heart) lead to me messing up and slipping, thankfully being so close to the ground, I didn't hit the ice very hard.

Muffled snickering caught my attention and as the younger spirit came to a stop in front of me, he was biting his lower lip to avoid laughing aloud, rolling my eyes, I stuck my tongue out at him, making him full on laugh.

"You okay there Sandy?" Nodding with a smile, dream sand pushed me up off the ice, only to set me back on my feet. "You feeling better now?" For a second I just looked at him confused, slowly my eyes got wide, and I looked at him with a partially opened mouth, shocked.

_He was trying to cheer me up?_

Nodding happily, I still yet felt a small knot in my stomach tightening up as it seemed that Jack still had something more to say. "You looked really distant when you came back, even more so than yesterday... Anything you wanna talk about?" The knot tightened to the point of a sickening feeling sweeping over me as my earlier gloom returned, dimming my glow. "Woah... Did... Did I say something wrong?" I couldn't help but start worrying, and a strong feeling of paranoia took it's hold on me.

He wouldn't get mad if I told him... Would he? I mean, if he's my friend, he wouldn't cast me away... Right? "Come on little man, I'm worried about you... It's not the same when you're not smiling and ready to joke around..." He deserved to know, and I couldn't keep hiding this... Sighing, I made sand moving up above my head, though, I let it take a while, but as it all came to a rest, the winter spirits eyes grew wide and they just stayed trained on the symbols above my head.

An arrow pointing down at me, a heart next to that, and last, a snowflake.


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: I swear this will be the ONLY chapter with a switched POV, it will be this one through Jack's eyes, then go right back to Sandy's. I'm also throwing some of my own things into this chapter in terms of a character. (who I guess they never really have any interaction with anyway) This will also be a shorter chapter, but I'll make up for it in the next one! Promise! ~ Imoto out!**

Perched on the arch of my staff, I stared at the three other Guardians around me, feeling my mind slipping from where I was, going back to that look on Sandy's face, the fear in his eyes as in three symbols he spilled his heart to me... Yet I said nothing. Silently I stared, driving him to run off, and now, for three days, no one had seen or heard of him. Children were going without dreams, and that just, wasn't like the eldest Guardian, the well being of the kids has always been his priority. So here we were, called together, missing the only Spirit I wanted to see...

"As Jack and Tooth know," North started, glancing around, then turning to Bunny with an exasperated sigh. "Sandy has gone missing, and, Tooth has brought up that she fears he is within grasp..." What did that mean? I had never heard one of them mention that before?

"Within grasp?" They all turned their gazes to me as I shifted, my feet hitting the floor with a slight thud, only to move and lean against my staff, Bunny shook his head and hopped a bit closer to me, his voice soft, and his ears down.

"It's a term we use when we have reason to believe someone is withing the grip of Insanity." Sending him a confused look, he nodded, needing no more urging before continuing. "Insanity is a Spirit older than all of us, yet no one has seen him for at least a thousand years. Sometimes if you catch the light at the exact right moment, you can catch a small glimpse of a black tendril around a depressed Spirit or even a human." No one ever mentioned this to me before? This may have been important for me to know! Seriously! I wonder what other important things they've never told me about...

"Well," Tooth flew over to us quickly, wringing her hands a bit, staring down. "when I spoke with him, he, was kind of out of sorts... It may be worse than we think... He may already be caged in black..." Without having to say anything, she turned her gaze to me, and the fear in her eyes sent my heart tumbling into my stomach. "It means Insanity got them, and in the end, the one who has been touched... Dies."

Shifting my eyes over all of them, I saw no lie in their sad gazes. Shaking my head, I backed away from the other Guardians, feeling a tightening fear in my chest. No. Sandy was going to be fine, he was fine, nothing was going to happen to him.

Hearing the breeze pick up outside, I glanced back, then turned to the others, North shook his head, his eyes trained on me, obviously knowing what I planned to do.

"Jack, don't do it. We'll all figure something out together." Backing up to the open window, the wind caught my hair and the back of my hoodie, trying to pull me out into the open air.

"Before we all start freaking out... Let me try something." Stepping up onto the window sill, North went to take a step toward me, but Tooth grabbed his arm, holding him back with a sigh.

"Maybe he's right... This wasn't Sandy's normal woes, something else was bothering him." Nodding to Tooth, she flew over quickly grabbing my arm, her gaze grim. "You need to know, if you find him, he may not be himself... None of us can be sure how he'll react." Dropping my eyes to the floor, I turned away and jumped out into the wind, quickly balancing myself in the air, the wind, which always knew where to take me, put me on a course that would take me to the missing Dream Giver.

I was in the air for a long time before I even had any idea where the wind might be taking me, it had taken me over one of the oceans a long while ago, but only now was there any sign of land, a small island in the middle of nowhere. Then again, I had heard Sandy lived on an island, but no one knew where...

Grass brushed my feet as I landed on the ground, now that I was here, how did I find the Guardian? Scanning the area around me, I decided to just start walking, and hopefully I'd find some trace of Sandy at least somewhere.


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Just like I said, this chapter will be back in Sandy's POV, and I did my best to make it longer than the rest of them. ~Imoto out **

Darkness surrounded me, only being touched by the light I myself put off, though in the three days I've been sitting here, staring into the shadows, my light had dimmed, reminding me that children were staring to not believe in me... Though, I couldn't make myself care... Every time I had tried, his voice cut me down... That voice that haunted me... I couldn't see him in the shadows where he loved to hide, but it sounded like he was speaking in my ear, each of Pitch's taunting words striking my already pained heart like a knife.

"_So much fear for such a little man..._"

It was getting harder to ignore his words as I realized how true they were, some of the things he had said to me were terrible nasty things, but thinking over them, I saw the truth in them.

A fainter voice in the distance caught my attention rather easily, though it was practically impossible to make out what was being said, all I knew, was they were calling it over and over again.

"_You're afraid of letting the children down. Oh wait. You already have!_"

Feeling the stinging threat of tears, I dropped my gaze to the floor. How could I ever hope to send the children pleasant dreams if I couldn't even muster a happy thought for myself? It was useless, a world without me would probably be better than the dreams I could send out in this state...

"Sandy?" The second voice had grown so much closer it made me jump, and soft foot steps padded behind me. Shaping sand into my whips quickly, I leaped to my feet, whirling around and letting one of the whips fly with a crack of the tip, a loud cry of surprise echoed through the darkness, and the tight line of the whip let me know I had caught whoever it was, and I quickly dragged my prisoner closer to my light. White hair and wide, shocked blue eyes came into view.

"Sandy? It's me! Jack?!" I stared at the boys face, racking my brain to place it. The name I knew, his face, not so much... There was that feeling of familiarity, but something in my mind just wasn't clicking it all into place. We stared at each other silently, we obviously knew each other, or at least he seemed to know me...

"_You're afraid your love won't be returned._"

Love... Jack... Oh. OH! The whips quickly dissolved into grains of sand as I looked at the winter spirit sadly, a sharp pain in my heart from the fact that I hadn't recognized him... How far gone was I? I mean. It was _Jack_! I knew Jack! I knew about being already within grasp, was it past that though? Was I already caged in black?

Finding Jack's beautiful blue eyes watching me with worry, I backed away, he sat up and reached out for me but I just shook my head, tears welding up in my eyes. If I was right about being caged... It was dangerous for him to be here.

"What as that about? Why'd you attack me?" Wiping the tears from my eyes, I turned my gaze back to the spirit, shocked by the anger swelling in my chest suddenly, I thought of three days back, how I had told him of my feelings, but he had said nothing to me. Just stared. My whips formed in my hands again as the anger heighten. Jack's eyes grew wide, and he stared at me fearfully. "...Sandy?"

The crack of my first whip made Jack jump as the sound took him off guard, then his pain-filled cry echoed as the tip of my whip connected with his face, quickly forming a bright red welt. "Sandy! What the hell was that for?!" Lashing out with both whips this time, the young spirits cry turned into a full on scream, tears now streamed down his cheeks as he sat on his legs, curled up on himself. Another crack of the whips made him wince before they even connected with his trembling body. "Stop! Sandy stop!" Hearing his pleading just made me that much angrier, and another crack of the whip sent him into a fit of sobs, his entire body shaking violently.

"_You're afraid of anything happening to Jack._"

As Jacks head raised just enough for his eyes to meet mine, I was horrified. So much pain didn't belong in such gorgeous blue eyes, and just like that my anger vanished as suddenly as it appeared. Leaving me standing there appalled with myself.

Stumbling back, I dropped to the ground as the whips dispersed. What was wrong with me!? Why... Why would I ever _want _to hurt Jack? I had to break this hold on me before I hurt him again...

"_You're afraid he hates you, but of course he does, you just attacked him after all._"

Putting my head down on the floor, I clamped my hands over my ears to block out Pitch's voice. Jack should hate me, how could he not? Screwing my eyes shut, tears still yet dripped to the ground, making only a small sound as they hit.

Shuffling made me think Jack was moving away, but cold hands on my back made me realize the winter spirit had crawled closer to me, then as I raised my head, I found Jack was staring down at me with worry still in his eyes, though all I could stare at was the red mark that was starting to turn black and blue on his pale cheek.

How could he be worried about me after what I did? How could he stand to be near me? I was a terrible friend... He deserved better...

Trying to push Jack away, his hands moved and quickly grabbed my arms, yet I continued to struggle against his hold, but it didn't seem as if he was going to give up any time soon.

"Sandy, I want you to listen to what I have to say." Using my feet now to try and kick him away, all he had to do was shift a little before my legs could no longer reach, yet he could still hold onto my arms and attempt to hold me still. "Sandy listen to-" His voice cut off as symbols quickly formed and vanished above my head, however at this point, I don't even think _I_ knew what I was trying to say to the boy. "Would you stop for a second?!" Squirming around violently trying to free myself from his grip of iron, I could hear the stress growing in his voice. "Sandy stop it!"

"_You're afraid that you're a danger to your friends._"

As a last stab at freedom, I started flailing about, only for Jack to sigh angrily and start to shake me, his voice raising to a yell suddenly.

"Dammit Sandy listen to me!" I was to shocked to move. I had never really seen the youngest Guardian yell, it was rather terrifying.. He took my moment of stillness to take a deep calming breath before bringing his gaze back to me, blue eyes shining bright in my light. "Sandy... I love you."

His grip on my arms disappeared as he shook his head and dropped his gaze almost as if in shame. "I should have told you three days ago, but I was just, so shocked that you loved me back, it slipped my mind..." Tears welded up in my eyes as I stared at Jack absolutely stunned. That's not what I thought he was going to say... I was overjoyed to hear that don't get me wrong, but it also made me feel ten times worse for what I did to him. "Am I forgiven?"

I nodded with a smile as his head raised once more, for a second he just stared a me, then startled chuckling, confused, I glanced around only to find sand had formed little hearts around my head.

My cheeks started burning when I brought my gaze back to his, Jack just smirked and leaned closer until his forehead was resting against mine. "Don't worry," He brought his hand up, stroking my cheek softly, causing the light erupting from them to grow and the heat to turn up. "it's cute."

The winter spirit leaned his head even closer, his cold lips brushing against mine, but he just stayed there, his own lips only centimeters away, taunting me. I couldn't stand it. Taking that little space away, he gladly returned the kiss while pulling me even closer.


End file.
